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Thomas M. Estok
President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Estok is a Biotech entrepreneur who brings nearly 25 years of experience
in the development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals
to his leadership role at Tragara. Mr. Estok is also co-founder
of Aarden Pharmaceuticals and serves as its Chairman. Prior
to Tragara, Mr. Estok was the founding President and CEO of
Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pharmion for $104 million)
and Chief Commercial Officer of Conforma Therapeutics (acquired
by Biogen-Idec for $250 million). During his 19-year tenure
at Schering-Plough, Mr. Estok held a number of positions with
progressing responsibility in R&D, in both international and
domestic marketing, sales, and commercial development. Mr.
Estok has led the development and/or commercialization efforts
of several oncology products including temozolomide, liposomal
doxorubicin, amrubicin, flutamide, and the interferon franchise.
Mr. Estok received a BS degree in Biochemistry from Virginia
Tech and was awarded an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Kim P. Kamdar
Principal, Domain Associates
Dr. Kim Puloma Kamdar joined Domain Associates in 2005
and became a Principal in 2006. Present board memberships
include Nuon Therapeutics, Obalon Therapeutics, ROX Medical,
Sonexa Therapeutics, Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Tragara Pharmaceuticals,
as well as observer status at Achaogen, BiPar Sciences, Corthera,
GenVault, Lipothera and SkinMedica. Ms. Kamdar serves as an
advisory board member to Eric Topol’s NIH supported
Clinical and Translational Science Award for Scripps Medicine.
Additionally, Ms. Kamdar serves as an Advisory Board Member
for Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund, a private equity fund
providing growth capital to Indian pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies. From 2003-2004, Ms. Kamdar was a Kauffman Fellow
with MPM Capital. Prior to joining MPM, Ms. Kamdar was a Research
Director at Novartis. She built and led a research team that
focused on the biology, genetics and genomics of model organisms
to uncover small molecules that modulated signaling pathway
networks. Ms. Kamdar is a founder of Aryzun Pharmaceuticals,
a biotech company utilizing protein-protein interaction mapping
for small molecule discovery with an initial focus on anti-infectives
and oncology. Ms. Kamdar is the author of ten papers as well
as the inventor on seven patents. Ms. Kamdar received her
B.A. from Northwestern University and her Ph.D. from Emory
University.
Alain Schreiber, M.D.
Managing Partner, ProQuest Investments
Dr. Schreiber joined ProQuest as a General Partner in
2000. His extensive industry experience provides a commercially-focused
operational discipline and a depth of drug development expertise.
Prior to joining ProQuest, Dr. Schreiber served as President,
Director, and CEO of Vical. Previously, at Rhône-Poulenc
Rorer (now Sanofi-Aventis), Dr. Schreiber served in several
roles, including Senior Vice President of Research. Prior
to his tenure at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, Dr. Schreiber
was Department Head of Biochemistry at Syntex (now Roche Bioscience).
He has previously served on the Board of Directors of ActivX
Biosciences, BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp., Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals,
Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Concentric Medical, Conforma Therapeutics,
Gemin X and Somalogic. Currently Dr. Schreiber serves on the
Board of Directors of Aerovance, Aires Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard
Pharmaceuticals, LEAD Therapeutics, Optimer Pharmaceuticals
and Tragara Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Schreiber received a B.S.
in chemistry, summa cum laude, and an M.D., summa cum laude,
from the Free University in Brussels, Belgium. Subsequently,
he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of
Science in Israel.
Eckard Weber
Partner, Domain Associates
Dr. Weber joined Domain Associates in 2001 as a partner
where he specializes in creating companies around promising
new pharmaceutical products. He has been founding CEO of multiple
biopharmaceutical companies in the Domain portfolio including
Acea Pharmaceuticals, Ascenta Therapeutics, Calixa Therapeutics,
Cytovia, Domain Antibacterial Acquisition Corporation, NovaCardia,
Novacea, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Ocera Therapeutics, Orexigen
Therapeutics, Sonexa Therapeutics, Syndax Pharmaceuticals,
Tobira Therapeutics and Tragara Pharmaceuticals. He currently
serves as interim CEO of Calixa Therapeutics and Sonexa Therapeutics,
two seed-stage biopharmaceutical companies. He is Chairman
of the Board at Ascenta Therapeutics, Calixa Therapeutics,
Ocera Therapeutics, Orexigen Therapeutics, Sequel Pharmaceuticals,
and Tobira Therapeutics. He was Chairman of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals
until the company was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2005,
Chairman of Cerexa until the company was sold to Forest Laboratories
in January 2007, Chairman of NovaCardia until the company
was sold to Merck in September of 2007, and a Board member
of Conforma Therapeutics and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals until
they were sold to Biogen-IDEC and Pharmion, respectively.
In addition, he is a board member of DiObex. Until 1995, Mr.
Weber was a tenured Professor of Pharmacology at the University
of California at Irvine. He has over 20 years of drug discovery
and development experience and has been a consultant to biotechnology
and pharmaceutical companies. He is the inventor or co-inventor
of over 40 patents and patent applications, and he has published
over 130 papers in scientific periodicals. Mr. Weber received
his B.S. from Kolping College, Friedrichshafen, Germany, and
his M.D. from University of Ulm Medical School, Germany. He
received his Postdoctoral Training at Stanford University
Medical School.
Ralph E. (Chris) Christoffersen, Ph.D.
Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures
Dr. Christoffersen joined Morgenthaler Ventures in 2001.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, he is focusing on new biotechnology
investments. Previously, he was the President and CEO of Ribozyme
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Morgenthaler portfolio biotechnology
company with a mission to commercialize the Nobel Prize-winning
discovery of ribozymes for use as human therapeutics. He currently
serves on seven corporate boards, and achieved successful
exits with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Avidia Biosciences,
and Morphotek, Inc. He also served as the Senior Vice President
of Research at SmithKline Beecham, and Vice President of Discovery
Research at The Upjohn Company, and President of Colorado
State University. Christoffersen received an honorary doctor
of law degree from Cornell College in 1983, the "Outstanding
Research of Year" Award from the International Society
of Quantum Biology in 1981, the "W. E. Upjohn Award"
for contributions in biotechnology in 1988, and a Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2003 from the Colorado Biosciences Association.
He received a B.S. from Cornell College and a Ph.D. from Indiana
University.
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